PK - congrats on the sub 1:30 and I'm sorry it wasn't the time you wanted, I'm sure 1:25 would have been sweet. And the trophy sounds awesome, it sure beats the $10 gift certificate I got for winning my AG (and 3rd master runner, blah). You are coming back from the injury, so it's not a big deal. Although now you are much much older, haha. When is the redemption race?

Thanks Angel. Even though my time wasnt my best I had a great day. The race started with a Maori Haka which is like a tribal challenge, 1 minutes silence for Boston and a canon fired at the start.

I was good till 15km and then the engine ran out of petrol and started running 4.16/km. My training cycle hasnt been great only 2 long runs of 20kms and 8 weeks of 45mpw average but not much prior to that. When I ran my PB last year I was averaging 56 miles for the 8 weeks prior. Anyway my family came down for the finish and then we went to the local thermal hotpools and then off to a cafe for lunch. There was good crowd support as this event is part of the Rotorua Marathon event.

There is a local half here in a month so I might try to improve on this.

Philly - thanks. Not a cold, but woke up yesterday morning feeling like I got hit by a train. The combination of severe work load and hours, lack of sleep, dehydration, poor eating, (and probably the 5-6 beers I had at golf), all contributed I'm sure. I left work only a couple hours into my shift, stopped on the way home on random streets to yack about 3 times, lol. Very nice run.

Joe - I think that's exactly why I always hated the 'mill, an 8 minute mile on the treadmill feels like tempo pace for me outside. Good luck!

TimR - That's good, because during my taper week in March, my easy pace felt harder. Good luck to you, sounds like you'll do very well.

Kiwi - no sweat, coming off injury, that's a valiant effort. Very awesome looking trophy too. I know you're light years faster than that with a proper injury free training cycle. Maybe get a few weeks at 55 miles or so with some good long runs and 10k tempos, and you'll approach your PR I think at the local half. Glad you had a fun day though.

I felt better last night after sleeping all day from going home sick, so I battled out an 8 miler. Going to try to get my tempo in this morning while it's still cool.

PK - You didn't let anyone down. A 1.27 is a VERY respectable time after coming off of an injury. You can run faster hurt than I can fully trained and injury free! You are building back up. You'll be where you want to be again soon. I remember that trophy style from last year when you posted, very cool.

DJW - Sounds like your body has been thru the wringer the past few days. Try to take it easy this weekend and get some sleep if you can.

Me - I ran 5 miles on the TM yesterday because it was pouring here. I ran the first 4 slow (7:45ish), then ran the last mile at 6:45. I felt fine, so maybe I can jump back in next week. I still have a sore throat, going on 2 weeks with that. Prior to getting sick 2 weeks ago, I was slowly wearing down with all that I had going on personally, with work, and trying to train for a HM. I was tired most of the time, not getting enough sleep, etc. I'm not trying to make excuses, only figuring out why I got so sick and even why I could not run a HM faster than 1:45 with a cold. I think I was just exhausted. I was not "pumped" for that HM, I was really just wanting to get it done and then take some time off. Sounds bad huh?

1:23:28. I started a bit fast and started to slip around mile 8. At mile 10 I launched a heroic attemp to come in under 1:23, but I blew out for last mile. Nevertheless, a nice PR, so I take it. Report later.

Piwi - nice half, even though we know you can hit a better time on a different day. You still did great and think about it, 1:27 half is now your comfortable talking pace, lol.

Me - Finished in 1:35:01 by the gun, which I started about 5 seconds after the gun. I kind of had to since the 1:45 pace group was damn close to the start line and I didn't want to be behind them. I started the day off waking up before my 5:10am alarm, but still had over 8 hours of sleep. I ate 1.5 bagels with peanut butter, got to the race nice and early. Parked and was by the starting line 1.5 hours early. Did a couple 1 mile jogs to get the legs warmed up and did a very short amount of time a little faster so that race pace wouldn't feel too bad.

Race started and I went out without hardly any worries about the group getting in the way, trying to weave through people or any problems at all. Weather was beautiful at like 55 degrees and sunny! I tried to hold back on the first mile as much as I possibly could, but failed, lol. Here are the splits:

Mile 1: 6:47

7:00 (a little downhill and I think I tried to back off too much)

7:05

6:55

7:22 (wind in my face and uphill ... I think I may have done this split too fast)

7:06

7:19

6:45 (took my gel during this mile)

7:20

7:18 (after 10 miles I could feel my hamstrings which told me I was running the right pace)

7:25

7:30

7:20 (all uphill)

1:45 (watch said about 13.3 miles, but really close)

Final time was an even 1:35:00, and I was about 200th out of over 8100 people doing the half today. My chip time is messed up and it said 1:50:44 on the website with a gun time of 1:35:01. When I crossed the finish line the clock said 1:35:00 as did my watch. Now website says 1:36:29 for both, but they will get it all sorted out eventually. Other than trying to reel back that first mile a little bit, I paced about as good as I could for my fitness level. I have speed, but need to log more quality miles to be able to do sub 1:30. I was happy with my performance and will take a new PR by almost 27 minutes in one year's time. While I may be proud right now, that doesn't mean that I will be content with this and not try to beat it in the future, haha. I don't have any more half marathons planned this year as it would kill my other training, but will keep involved with this thread. Thanks to everyone for if it wasn't for this group I don't think I would be in shape to run a 1:35! My weaknesses are downhills and endurance at pace I believe.

Joe- great job and all good experience for you. You now have a benchmark to beat. Talking pace is easy pace, right ? haha.

Bbonnell- thanks yes last year I got the 3rd place trophy which is smaller. I need a 1st to complete the set !I think we have both learned that all these other life factors have a big bearing on our performances. Look forward to your redemption race !

DJW- Man I feel like I might get sick just from reading you and Bbonnells posts lol !Dont worry if you bonk on that tempo, you are tired and sick remember.My official time is worse 1.27.37. This other half is on june 2nd so not alot of time but I think I will do it and at least try to run a 1.25 or something.

CSAB- wow you are now seriously fast, congrats. You sound like you were " feeling it " and are in good form. I would now like to get back to a 1.25 haha.

Thanks for the encouragement guys. I more than determined now to do better next time. Im also going to try not to be so talkative on the race course !

Tim- that's always a great thing when your easy runs get faster but are just as easy.

PK- that's a great time. Coming off an injury especially. That time just amazes. With more conditioning you'll have plenty more good halves to come. Congrats! Great picture too. Lol sometimes I wish different race lengths had different finish lines. Or at least I like when they color code bibs and put the distance on them. Very cool trophy.

Djw- glad you got your tempo in today. Great run things considered.

Csab- congrats on the new PR! You crushed your old time!

Joe- congrats also! New PRs are a great thing. Glad it's motivating you more. I think some more time and more experience will def bring a sub 1:30.

Bb- great tempo! Very solid!

Me- Well, the gf and I decided to do a 5k today near her hometown in the swamps of Louisiana. I wasn't sure how I wanted to run it after doing an 8mile progression run Thursday and then just over 14miles yesterday. I decided to just do some easy drills to warm up and see how I felt.

Well... I got a shiny new PR of. 19:18!

6:216:226:080:27 (4:30 pace)

The weather was ideal and the course was flat. It was a very small race and I finished 3/80 or so.

This was a big confidence booster and a new post HS PR by 82 seconds.

This increased mileage is really helping despite not doing much speed work. I wonder how much faster I could have run fully rested and with a real warmup.

Philly- yes you smashed it welcome to sub 20 5k, that is a major milestone. My craft beer is running out quick and I totally blame it and you for my decreasing performances lol!

Csab- great read, those big races sound like a logistical nightmare. I think mid size races are good with some crowd support. That would be the indy 500 track right ? Yea I guess it would be boring running a couple miles round that. Good luck with your sub 3 full quest.

Djw- man you did good on that tempo after your week.6 beers? That would put me on my back at 146lbs haha.

Thanks for the encouraging words. I guess you guys are right and I set my standards a wee bit high. Running a weekly 10 tempo in 39:30 doesnt guarantee sub 1.24 half if the base isnt there. Im going to work hard now to improve.Time to have a craft beer to celebrate Phillys sub 20.

csab - smoking good time! Nice race report and I wouldn't beat yourself up over not hitting your dream goal for the first time. Your dreams are getting tougher.

bbonnell - thanks!

piwi - Absolutely! But if you get injured constantly trying to keep your easy pace it's not my fault, lol

philly - nice 5k PR! Imagine what your 5k would be with a taper.

DJW - hope that means you are feeling a little better.

Me - spent the night gambling and drinking beer, lol. Watched Derby at local horse track and then played poker at local casino. Ended the night up about 100 bucks! Didn't do anything crazy, just a few beers. Wish I could have stayed longer there was a guy just itching to give everyone his money.

philly - huge congrats on the PR! your hard work is, and will continue to pay off. Keep at it, and maybe that HS PR will go down.

Kiwi - I'm glad to see your high motivation right now. I can see you having some killer weeks soon. Enjoy that beer.

Joe - Yeah, I was better, but still not 100%. Always nice to be ahead at the end of a night of gambling. Sounds like it was a blast.

Lots of beer drinking going on here, lol. Nothing wrong with that! I usually do more drinking in the summer time. There's a few things like golfing and grilling out that just simply cannot be done without a few beers.

1:27 is pretty darn good in my book kiwi. I guess it is all relative. When I ran a 1:35, when hoping for a 1:30 last year I was disappointed. One of my running friends was so excited about my fabulous time.

Nice 5K philly! I think 5Ks are best run a few days after a long run. It has worked for me at least.

I'm up to 13 miles this week in 3 runs. I've only been back for about a month. So far feeling really good and can feel the spring quickly returning to my legs.

When does the 10% rule take effect? It seems when you are first starting out after a 6 month break, the muscle memory is still there and so is much of the tendon and bone strength. It seems it is mostly the aerobic fitness that is lacking. So far I've been following the 100% rule and feeling good.

Hey guys..just got back from the race..in short a disaster, probably the worst half marathon I have ran so far..I bonked midway through the run and was alternating between walking and running throughout most of the 2nd half of the race. Chip time was 1:37:41, 392/8563 overall.I was surprised at how I managed to pull off this result as I expected something worse than that (in the 1:40s at least). Still unsure of what went wrong...perhaps I didn't load up on enough fuel the day before. Anyway it was a learning experience for me as I have never hit the wall in a race before...and I hope it's something I don't have to go through again. Now onward to some time off from training and then later on find a fall race to train towards to..I really need to redeem myself somehow!

taotemu: You can ramp up to a low base in just one or two weeks. For me, when I pause and restart running, I usually run low 20s the first week back, and high 20s or 30 the next week. But after I strictly follow the 10% rule until I'm back to a solid base.

If you are going up to your highest mileage ever, say from 50 to 60 or from 60 to 70, then in fact the 10% rule is too aggressive. By the 10% rule you could go from 60 to 66 and then 73, but I wouldn't recommend that.

Hey All, just time for a quick update this evening. I was 1:33:55 which was 5 seconds slower than my HM pr from last year (same course). Despite the fact that my time wasn't faster, I was pleased with my effort. I ran a fairly aggressive race, and was a minute or two ahead of last years splits over the first 10k and 10M, but I gave that time back in the last part of the race as I ran out of steam. The weather was really cool for this time of year, and while there was a little more headwind than I would have liked, it was a good race. I'll post more once I have time to read everyone else's race results.

Tim- sorry to hear. What was the pace like in the first half of the race? Were you on target ?

Taotemu- I think I read you are coming back from a nasty illness. You may have to go by feel. I ramped up from 40mpw -55mpw the following week recently trying desperately to get a couple of good weeks in before my half. It was ok but I was tired. I think be patient and go by feel.

DJW- good luck for your long run and I hope you are feeling better.

Joe- 3 vices, running, drinking, and gambling, you are an animal.

12km recovery for me today monday. Quads were burning up but got better.

One more showoff photo. I just need the big Daddy to complete the set.

PK: 1:27 is something I can only dream about. We all know how fast you are and we all know the circumstances. You did pretty well and got a beautiful trophy, Congrats!

Csab: congratulations on that amazing time.... How is the entrance to the race track? A tunnel?

Joe: That's a huge PR. Keep in mind you were also cross-training. and 200 out of 8000 is pretty good. Looks like the race profile was hilly.

Tim: You were in the top 5% of the race. Do you have your splits to find out if you went out really fast? Do you ran the first part at faster that expected pace? I hope you find the reasons behind.

Spilima: Looks like most of us had something positive to talk about during the race. In our case the positive were the splits, and I think it may be the goal, maybe we were overconfidents. Anyway I like that you have that attitude.

Philly: You rock, man! You can be sub-19 soon, and with 5K oriented training even better.

DJW: Smoking tempo!

Tao: Re: TM. I don't have issues with the temperature in the TM, I keep a towel to clean the sweat. I normally put the incline at 1.5% and do the workout (easy, tempo or intervals)... The long run is generally outdoors.

BBonnell: Glad to see you back... Take it easy these days until you are bug-free.

Me: It's warm over here reaching 25-26C sunny (77-79F)

On Friday I ran 5.9 miles@ 7:54

On Saturday I biked 40K (~25 miles) then tennis.

On Sunday, 10.5 miles@8:20. I included 10 hill sprints on dirt in the run. Later I worked in the backyard, removing the old grass... I'm dead. Taking tomorrow off

Tim: what a disappointment! I don't think fueling the day before could have caused this. How about hydration? If you dehydrate yourself the day before that could potentially cause things like this. I don't remember what your mileage was - low mileage can certainly make you bonk.

spilima: Congratulations! It looks like we all slowed by the end of our races this weekend. I chalk it up for my irregular training and my too ambitious dream goal that I tried nevertheless. Looking forward to your race report.

PK: As Angel said, I also love those trophies. That's the other thing about huge races: there is always enough good runners that I basically have no chance of scoring hardware.

Angel: Obvious candidate would be the very small Louisville Marathon, but I'm a bit worried about poor organization - the race has a poor reputation on that ground. But you can fight for victory with a 3-hour time. Other candidates are Indianapolis Monumental, Air Force Marathon in Dayton, OH, or Harpet Hills Flying Monkey in Nashville.

Jaimegu: the track entrance was a short tunnel. Much shorter than the one leading into Churchill Downs - the GPS never lost signal.

Tim - sorry to hear that, what was your split for the first half? first 10k? Did you go out too fast? Like others said on hydration?

splima - nice race!

Piwi - nice pic, showoff!

Angel - absolutely! Gambling is HR zone training for sure, haha.

Jaime - good point. It was kind of hilly and saturday was a windy day, but nothing too huge or too gusty.

Me - I worked last night and we had our second busiest day of the year ... go figure. Hamstrings and calves a little sore and put ankle brace on just in case cuz it felt sore too (right ankle). Going to do an easy bike today and easy run tomorrow. I'm not bouncing back as fast as Piwi.

I think PK is the early leader for best trophy of 2013. And you say there is an even larger version?

Joe - That was a really impressive training cycle you just had. Great job balancing pushing yourself, staying within your fitness, and avoiding injury. If you have another one half as good, you'll go sub-90 in the fall.

csab - great time. As for your marathon - I highly recommend the Monumental. Not the greatest crowd support wise, but a good course, well organized, and there should be a small pack pushing for 3 hours with you.

csab - Really enjoyed your race report. You are in phenomenal shape right now. Enjoy that shiny new PR!

phillypharm - You'll appreciate this... a few years ago at the Fargo Half, Andrew Carlson (pretty good elite runner) was set to win the race and few 5k/10k walkers go into his way and might've cost him a win - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NU4lqHLB6Q. Congrats on the PR - the 5k is my least favorite race but you really rocked that last 1.1

DJW - You've gotta be careful with drinking and golf. I played in the local men's league two years ago and found out 1 or 2 beers makes your game better, but 3-4 turns me into a hack.

JoeDumas - We watched the derby, too. My wife's only question (since watching Barbaro a few years ago) was "...how often do they have to shoot the horses?" I tried to mess with her and say they have to do it to almost all the horses at some point in their racing career. She wasn't too thrilled when she found out I was just messing with her. Congrats on the new PR... If you set another 27 minute PR, you'll be just about staring at an Olympic Trials qualifier!

taotemu - When you are running under 30 mpw, I don't think you've got to adhere to the 10% rule. Especially when you've done it before. I think it's more important to listen to your body. If your legs or your mind are telling you "I do not want to bleeping run today" a few days straight, you are probably due to back off a little bit. I wouldn't lost a lot of sleep if you go from 13 miles in a week in 3 runs to 20 miles a week in 4 runs or 25 miles in 5 runs. You still are getting a couple rest days. Just don't do anything crazy like go from 13 in 3 to 35 in 6.

TimRuns - Bummed to hear about your race although if 1:37 is the worst race you've run, you are doing something right. I've got a bunch of 1:40+, 1:50+, and even a few 2+ on my resume. I'm convinced some days you just don't have it. In August of 2008, I ran a 1:33 half (which I felt good about). A month later, I ran a 1:07 10 miler which is still one of my best races ever. After another good month of training, I ran a 15k and ran it 47 seconds per mile slower than the 10 mile race. I can't explain why... I'd done the training, the carbo-loading, the hydrating, everything. As I was running that day, though, my body was just moving through quicksand. I think it sometimes just happens. Keep it up, though. You'll definitely redeem yourself in the near future!

spillma - Solid effort. I know we're all married to the evil goddess of time, but to run just a few seconds off a PR and feel good about the effort makes a big deal. I know I sometimes think of improvement as this steady little arrow that's always going upwards when in reality it's all these peaks, valleys, and plateaus with a goal of making a cumulative gain - kinda like the stock market.

PK - Those are pretty cool trophies. Most of my age group awards are a sad collection of medals I've won because I was 3rd out of the 6 people in my age group. Always awkward going up to get that medal which is why I take off before a lot of the awards now... Great race, though. Even if it's close to 30 secs/mile off your PR, it's still a big improvement from being injured and doing nothing, right?

Jamiegu- Enjoy the day off. I had a few housing projects last year for my in-laws for about a month straight last summer. I'd do my long runs and then go shovel dirt all day. It was the worst. I felt like a zombie for most of August.

Angel - How'd the 19 miler go? Seems like anytime I get over 18 or so, I feel either wonderful or wretched. I'm guessing not to bad since you are in phenomenal shape right now.

Me - Had a solid weekend. Did a 12 mile long run on Saturday on the treadmill (only because basketball was on and I wanted to "multitask"). Ran the whole thing at a comfortable 7:20 pace which feels like good progress. As soon as I got done, my wife asked if I wanted to take the dogs out for a run. So, wound up adding 3 more kinda slow miles pushing a stroller while some springer spaniels burned off some energy. Sunday, rocked out another 10 miles so I wound up with 43 miles for the week with 3 rest days. Two weeks out from the half marathon, but I don't think I'm going to do much of an actual taper. Maybe just a normal M-T-W and back off a bit on T-F. Still don't know what I'm really capable of, so I think I'm going into the race with no real expectations. At the very least, though, I'm feeling more confident now that I was two weeks ago.

pk- lol, it takes some time to get the full benefits of craft beer, just like with training, you don't see the results for another 3-4 weeks. give the beer time haha. sounds like you need to restock! awesome trophies! for my "big win" i got a cookbook written by the children and teachers at the catholic elementary school that held the race. That's funny, i celebrated your 1:27 with beer!

joe- yeah now i'm itching to maybe do a quick 6-8 week 5k training cycle, but the summer's just too hot to have decent 5k weather. man, the derby was sloppy! but fun to watch either way. one day we'd like to see it in person. hope the ankle is fine.

djw- i didn't think i could come close to HS before, but now I feel like i may have a chance down the road. I've also beeen getting a ton of use out of the grill lately. hope the LR went well.

tao- you might be right, but maybe next time i won't do it the day after my LR. i agree with what others have said, if you had the base you can up to 20 fairly quickly by increasing the number of runs. over 30 or so, i'd be more cautious.

tim- sorry about the race, sometimes it's just not a good day, but so many people would kill for a sub 1:40. i ran my half in 1:32 (7:03 pace) and then a month later i bonked out in a 10 miler after 6 miles and went from 6:55 pace to finishing in 7:12 pace.

spil- congrats on the half. glad you feel good about the race.

angel- thanks. it was the perfect way start to get me through the summer. it's nice to see just doing more miles, however slow, pays dividends. nice LR and week. You're a good friend! you pace people through 5ks and help others train for fulls.

jaime- nice weekend. i don't think i could do much after a long bike ride. I can run then bike, but biking makes my legs feel like jello.

csab- how the legs feeling post run?

lfp- i agree, that trophy is amazing

brent- man that's sickening! i don't know how i would've reacted if something like that happened. wow. thanks. i didn't do my kick until about 0.5 left (0.6 into mile 3) and felt i had a lot left. i just wanted to hold on to go sub 20, but if i feel that good again, i'm kicking at 1.1 left. With 2 weeks to go, perhaps try a 10k tempo to possibly gauged your half time. if you're doing a comfy LR at 7:20 pace, you should be able to do a very fast half.

me- rested sunday, finished the week with 47 and the legs feel pretty fresh after last week's 53miles. today will be an easy 8-ish. i really feel like with better preparation and rest, i could've done sub 19 the way i was feeling, but i just wanted to get sub 20 first. i had a good amount left. usually after 5ks, i keel over on my knees to catch my breath. this time i just grabbed a bottle of water, walked a bit, then started a jog cool down. i think one of the best things i've been doing lately is doing some quick 30s-1min pickups on the last 1 mile of my runs. i'ven been doing them so slowly overall that my legs get sluggish, but those pick ups have felt good. they've also been on a downhill so that's helping the quads quite a bit.

Piwi Kiwi: Sorry about the bonk as well..although 1:27 with a bonk is still impressive though.

Spilima: nice effort despite the slightly positive split.

Me: I think there were multiple reasons why I crashed and burned. I don't think training was an issue (50-70 mile weeks, good quality long runs for the most part, consistent training, good taper, speedwork, tempos, etc..). Hydration was definitely not an issue as I was drinking till near the start of the race, in fact may be a little too much as I had to use the porta-potty at around the 8k mark. I think race day nutrition was at least part of it..I had my pre-race breakfast over 3 hrs before my race and had nothing to eat within that time frame..I should have at least had some carb intake (like a powerbar or banana) an hour or so before the run. I've had this issue before on a few of my long runs last year where I waited too long (over 2 hrs) after a meal (usually breakfast) and ended up hitting the wall an hour or so into the run. Also another thing that came up was tightness in the quads at the start..didn't think it would be too much of an issue but it became more apparent during the course of the race. As far as pacing goes, my splits were messed as I missed many of the markers..the first 3k or so was downhill so the splits for those first few miles were somewhat faster than, or at goal race...but I usually start fairly conservatively in a half... Overall, I remembered after feeling the tightness in the quads after my warmup, I knew something was not quite right..but never imagined it would turn out into this.

lfp - thanks! Although I still got about 17 weeks of training before my ironman duathlon. So I do have two 2.5 hour runs in there, a 3 hour run, a few 120's and the speedwork probably won't be as intense/fast. And bike volume will definitely be going up with probably five 100+ mile rides. I will be doing a lot of zone 2 training for both run and bike now. 8 weeks after that race is the full marathon here and I have no idea how my recovery from the other race will go, so I will either run the full or the half on October 20th. Very longshot goal on that race is Boston Qualifying, but I would be really happy with a 3:20.

brent - you have come back very strong and I am very impressed at your paces already. I am thinking sub-90 is back in the cards for you. And if it was just that easy to knock off 27 minutes again I'd be eyeballing course records in no time, haha.

philly - you can do it. At least if it winds up being hot on race day you are only doing 3.1 miles compared to lots more. Hydrate well before and after race, it would be motivation to me that the sooner I get done the sooner I get more water.

Some of you may know me from Sub 20:00 5k thread; it's about time I posted here...

I actually ran in the same Long Island HM as spilima... Congrats to you! That's an awesome time and by the sounds of it a smart race on your part, despite the positive split. I hope you enjoyed it; the weather was great and overall a great day to race. If you want to discuss the course more, let me know!

This was my 4th HM, but the other three I ran in HS and College just for fun (last one was 5 yrs ago at age 19.) This was the first year I trained starting back in November after coming off of a 7 month hiatus after IT injury from training for last years HM (did not run). Also, this was the first consistant running I had really done in the last 6 years. Needless to say, I started with the simple goal of sub 2:00:00.

Got a lot of great advice and training from great people, and as time passed I saw great progress and my goals changed, right up until last week. I finally decided that the goal should be 1:34-1:36.

Well, I finished in 1:35:31!!! That's a PR by 25 minutes!

I couldn't have asked for a better race. Awesome weather, consistant pacing thanks to my watch, timed out taking my GU perfectly and fought that bonking feeling off about 5-6 times, hydrated perfectly before hand, and raced smart overall. I was most proud of using those big tall guys to break the wind for me (I'm 5'2" and the wind takes a lot out of me). The only thing I could have hoped for was having more for the last 5k. I am not surprised though, because I knew going into it that I didn't do enough/long enough long runs. I also would have liked an AG award (5th for the 20-24 AG, 26th Fem, 194 OA), but hey, a PR is still a good day!

I am actually surprised my best 3mi (didn't get 5k splits) were actually miles 7-9. I was most afraid of those as that is where I had crapped out in the past.

Piwi - Great time, you may be able to go faster, but from where I sit, it's hard not to be impressed by a 1:27. Very Cool trophies. I agree, the original picture didn't give it Justice, those things are massive.

Philly - 5k - Nice new picture! I think you have sub 19 in you given the strength of your finish.

Brent: Nice training totals you are putting up. I'm a big fan of a full taper, there's something about the mental aspect of running deprivation and just itching to run at race day that really helps me get going.

Joe : Nice job on the race, sounds like a tough course with the wind and hills. Those things also tend to affect me and get me out of my "race pace".

Angel: Nice 19 M run, sounds fun to pace a friend to a PR. Great job on your race last week as well.

Csab: Enjoyed your race report. I've always had an interest in doing this race given the sheer size. Your RR makes me think there might be better ones our there for me.

TimRuns: Bummer to hear you had a bad race. Sometimes it's just not your day, but it doesn't make it any easier give the time and preparation that went into it.

Jamie: Thanks for the positive encouragement. I agree, it's disappointing to fall short of a goal, but it's important to come away with something positive from the experience.

Bbonnel: Good to see you back out there. that's a nice tempo

For me - here's a more detailed report. This race is my local race, and the half is a pretty good race, they run the half and the full and 10k at the same time. Half and Full run on the same course (full splits off at 10M). The 10K has a separate start and the same finish as the half and full. The weather was perfect, sunny, but about 48 at the start and low 50's at the finish. Winds were a little gusty at times.I started a little fast (6:22), but I had tailwind at my back and it felt ok at first. I realized before I got to the first mile marker that I needed to slow down a bit, but instead of putting the breaks on, I gradually eased off little by little letting people pass. By mile 3, I was feeling pretty good about my pace, but I was still getting passed. Miles 4-7.5 were slightly uphill, which didn't seem to bother me much. However the wind was pretty strong in my face on miles 7-8. As I was still running nominally slower than the runners around me.it was harder to draft off of other runners for this stretch of the race and I was happy to turn the corner at about mile 8 and get out of the wind. Family was waiting there to cheer. My wife told me later I looked fatigued already at that point. I tried to get back to target pace for mile 9 and was only somewhat successful at that. Given that this part was slightly downhill, I should have been able to go a bit faster here, but I didn't seem to have the legs for it. By mile 10, I was really tired. I knew there were no more 7:0X miles left in my legs, and even with a tailwind the rest of the way home, I just kept getting slower and slower. Mentally, the last two miles were really difficult, I pretty much went into damage mitigation mode - i.e. try not to loose any more time. I really fought to the line to get under 1:34. The clock hit 1:34 right before I crossed, but my chip (and watch) time was under 1:34. Since I ran this same race last year (in almost the same time), I'll try to attach my 2012 and 2013 splits for your enjoyment.

TimR - sorry to hear of your disappointment. Just hate to see people put so much into it, and have an off day like that. Chin up, your day of redemption will come I'm sure.

taotemu - upping mileage and the 10% rule is a very individual thing. I was fine going from around 30 miles per week, to around 48 miles per week when I first started real HM training last year. I was likely lucky to not get injured though, and that's not in any way recommended.

kiwi - I'll agree with lfp that you win for the coolest looking trophies.

Jaime - sounds like an eventfull weekend. Enjoy the day off.

Angel - huge long run and solid week at 59 miles. Awesome.

brent - I'm glad to see your confidence is up at least.

Joe - I like your lifestyle..Bike, run, drink, gamble...repeat!

Philly - I think sub 19 is in the bag for you now. Your mileage is there, and is returning on investment for sure.

tarface - welcome to the thread. Solid race effort. I hope you don't mind, as I added you to the original list on the first post.

Got my long run in yesterday of 12 miles @ 7:28 avg. Finished the week at 52 miles. Not bad considering how sick I was a couple days ago. I signed up for a 5k this weekend. Depending on the course, I hope to PR. I should, considering a couple 4 mile tempos I've had in the last month have been almost exactly my 5k PR pace.

Oh, and I updated the race log again. If I've made any errors, or have missed someone's race, or anything else, I apologize, and please feel free to let me know. It gets so busy here that I could very easily overlook something.

tim- sorry about the run, but i'm glad you are able to look back at it and analyze it. hope the quads heal up quickly for you.

joe- i'm sure i'll end up jumping into a 5k last minute over the summer. it's true about the heat though, i'd try to run faster to get it over with too.

tar- glad you made it over here. i learned a lot from the guys/girls around here. they know a lot about not just a half, but 5k, 10ks too. looks like i called your half time lol

spil- thanks, i finally got some pics from the NYC half back in march. again the real goal is sub 90, but maybe i'll hop in a 5k during my half cycle, that wont' start until july though. really nice RR. it's very surprising you held the way you did starting that fast. very cool also seeing your side by side races. maybe you can talk w/ tar about the track club she's in? it'd be cool to have a training partner to push some workouts.

djw- i hope so. i'm going to continue this base building through july, but may hop in a race one a month or so. another solid week just 2 weeks post full. good luck on the 5k, you really should smash your old PR. sub 18 for sure, but i could easily see you punching through a sub 17 too.

Tar - well done on the half and pr! 5th in your AG is a spectacular result. I agree with you on the importance of drafting during that stretch going up Jericho turnpike. That was, I think , the biggest flaw in my race strategy is I was running slightly slower than the folks around me at that point so it was hard to find someone running my speed to use as a windbreak. Your paces were really even. I think miles 8 and 9 are slightly downhill which might explain why you were so fast on those splits.

Djw - good luck on the 5k this weekend. Looking forward to seeing your result. You can add my next half ( Disney wine and dine half - Nov 9) to the list

Philly: thanks, glad you enjoyed the read. What I'm still a little puzzled over looking at the two races is how much higher HR I was able to maintain last year. Warmer day maybe?

One other thing to add about race weekend. Daughter and I did the kids fun run at the expo pick up the day before the race. We ended up getting interviewed after and made the local paper. Daughter was super excited about that....

Spilima - That's awesome news about your daughter and the fun run. I love seeing younger generations getting involved and developing a love for the sport!

Yeah, drafting was the smartest thing I did, especially since the wind at Jericho came during the real meat of the race. I agree that it is tough to do due to pacing - if they are catching that wind, they are probably running a slower pace than they wanted to also, not to mention slower than what you want to run. This was my tactic - draft, catch my breath, then do a slight pick up to catch the next guy 7-10 meters away. Stay behind him, draft, catch my breath, catch the next guy, and so on and so forth. Everytime I caught someone I checked my watch for pace. Most were around 7:30, which I knew was too slow for what I wanted. I only stayed behind one guy for longer than a minute or so, because he was actually doing like a 7:24 pace, which wasn't bad and gave me more time to catch my breath. I probably passed about 15 people this way, during a time when mostly everyone is slowing down and looking to just hold on and not really overcome anyone. The only thing is I think I pissed off that one guy that I stayed behind for a while, because I think he knew what I was doing. He started to swerve. Oh well, sorry man, I wanted to PR and did what I had to do. lol. By the time I got to the turn (which was slightly downhill) I had the energy to turn on the gas and do a 7:05 pace for about a half mile. This was big for me considering mentally not only had I stayed strong during the tough part, but I had the energy to kick it up when most were looking to recover from working against the wind.

Did not plan this going into the race...it just kind of came to me along the way.

Hope I explained it clearly; maybe it could be helpful to you next time!

And as far as what philly suggested, I don't know how you train, but if you are ever looking for someone I train with We Are Athletes and race for them as well (points wise). We meet in Farmingdale and Plainview on Tuesday and Thursday evenings respecitvely. Great people who love running, awesome coaches who know their stuff, and some great talent as well. The nice part, is all ability levels are present on the team, so it's never too serious. You work as hard as you want and they will help you do it. Aside from the training, if you are running unattached and would be interested in donning a jersey, we would love to have you. You would be a great asset to our men's open team.

Again, no pressure, but thought I would offer. If you are interested, let me know!

Csab- sounds like you have recovered well. A prime athlete at his peak ! If you ran in my race you too would have scored one of those puppies.

Tarface- welcome and congrats on a great half pr. The guy who won London marathon was 5'2 as well !

Splilima- I enjoyed your race report. I didnt bother with one this time. There were a couple of things like I put my back out friday and couldnt bend to tie my shoe laces but was ok come race time, and oh I threw two cups of water over the teenage girls manning the last water station, pretty normal behaviour right ?

Philly- you will go sub 19 soon. I can see you getting back to your high school times. I have been sipping one craft beer a night. Each one is met with anticipation, what will it taste like ?

djw- You got a 5km hooray. 17-17:30 is in the bag and you could go sub 17 I bet. Hope you have a great race. Hope you are having a better work week and no more bugs.

Tim- I think 2-3 hours between breakfast and race start is pretty normal but I know what you mean about getting a little peckish. Sometimes I take a gel before a race to get rid of hunger pains.

Brent- you are coming back strong. You are right 1.27 is a great time. I think I was never going sub 1.25 even with perfect pacing. Id take a nice crafted trophy over money or gift vouchers anyday too.

Lfp- thanks. How is the full training going. My next half in a month has no trophies, medals, back to reality !

Joe- I wouldnt say Im bouncing back, more like grovelling. Slow runs for me with sore quads. Its interesting how we are hurting in different areas, me quads, and you hammies and calves.

Jaime- thanks for the support and encouragement, appreciate it.

Angel- solid week once again. Nice job on the pacing. Im using you and Csab as my training template to follow.

7.5 miles 12kms for me pretty slow at about 8.20 mile pace nursing the quads through. My daily training shoes zoom elites have been giving me sore feet but I notice they have over 800 miles so ordered some more.

Philly - I think you can go well under 19. You've been running phenomenal lately, plus mentally, I think there is something to be said about having "been there before" (in HS). I'm thinking of hopping in a 10k race this weekend. My 10k PR is actually probably the weakest on my resume (44:09 from 5 years ago), so maybe I could go run something in the 41-43 range which would give me confidence going into next weekend.

JoeDumas - I've got a friend who's trying to get me into biking. I think if added another long distance hobby into my life, my wife would place an ad in the personal section of the paper for me.

spillma - Do you have a watch that does BPM for each mile like that? That's super interesting to look at. Look at that, you can see ever though you have a fast first mile, your avg BPM was slower than a 45 second slower mile the previous mile but it seemed to kind of spike more than you'd like to see in mile 2 & 3. Really interesting data...

DJW - Good luck in the 5k. I help coach a HS cross country team and talked 5k "strategy" with kids for about 9 years now. Yet I've never been able to put a good one together in my life. I just really struggle at that distance. Also doesn't help that no matter how fast I run, I can look to our team and say "...boy, do I ever stink" (In a school for a town of 3,000 people, we put 2 guys sub-16, another 6 guys sub-17, and another 4 guys sub-18... pretty crazy impressive)

tarface - Great race. Going from the 1:50s to mid-1:30s in one race is pretty impressive. My progression was 2:02, 2:00, 1:47, 1:34. I've spent the last 9 years trying to cut those last 4 minutes off my race. If your goal was 1:34-36, you obviously got some good advice about what kind of shape you were in, too. Congrats on a great race and your strong second half of the race indicates you've got some more in you. Awesome job...

spillma - My almost 3 year-old daughter is running a half mile race next Thursday. She's been "practicing" by running from one side of the house to another side of the house in her running clothes while my wife or I are on the treadmill. It's super cute.

csab - I won't be running 1:23s like you, but hopefully the race goes well I, too, am the king of jackrabbit starts.

PK - I run a crazy amount of miles in my shoes, too (much more than the 500 you are "supposed" to run). I'm right at 800 miles in the shoes I want to run the race in, but my shoelaces broke. So, I've gotta run around town and find a shoelace in the next week and a half.

Angel - My race is May 18th... I've run this race 5 out of the 7 times they've had it but other than the first year when I ran a 1:32, I've never really run it very well due to lack of fitness (twice) or injury (twice) or running it with my wife (once). Two years, it was my second or third run of the entire calendar year! You can about guess how I looked around mile 11.

Me - I went to the doctor for my followup appointment with the heart issues a month ago. I got some great news. I was telling the doc I wasn't wild about the drug that I was on and I didn't understand why I was even on a medication since I haven't been on a medication in the last 12 years. I was expecting this particular doctor (who's been fairly inflexible with things in the past) to give me a laundry list of reasons why I shouldn't do that, but instead he was like "...sure" and then gave me directions how we should wean me off the medication. I'm super excited for both life (I'd been falling asleep at 7 PM half the nights) and especially for running. I don't know if sub-1:30 is in the cards simply because my last month of training has been up and down with the hospital stay and a steady dose of 8 minute miles, but I will be completely off the medication for two days before the race, so I should be back to my normal self. I took yesterday as a rest day, but I can't help but feel like that news alone dropped about 5-10 minutes off what time I was thinking I'd be in the ballpark of. Now, my biggest concern before the race is trying to find my lost iPod shuffle (hope I didn't wash it... I've done that and ruined two or three of those).

pk - nothing wrong with a 1:27. That is an awesome time! I would kill for that time, haha. That is an awesome trophy.

csab - damn that is a great time! Congrats.

joe - that is an awesome time. Especially sine it is 27 minutes off your previous PR. Heck of a time!

philly - Welcome to the sub-20 5k club (ran 19:56 in mine last year)! Congrats on the new PR and coming in 3rd! Small races like that are always more enjoyable I found out.

spilma - still a great time! Awesome job!

tar - welcome! This place is extremely helpful in reaching the sub 90 goal.

DJW - damn that is a good week. Heck of a long run too. Good luck this upcoming weekend, just in case I don't get on here again.

everyone else - awesome running!

me - finished last week with 40 miles. Did 6 yesterday and 5 today, both easy. The future Mrs and I get hitched next week in the Outer Banks, North Carolina. We are leaving this Sunday to drive on down, so with final details wrapping up this week and the wedding next week, I doubt I will get many miles in. I plan to just take it easy hopefully just get about 20 miles each week. I guess a wedding is a good enough reason to cut back a little, haha.